CAJ | 학술논문

Objective: Papanicolou (Pap) smear screening has dramatically reduced the incidence of invasive cervical can-cer worldwide. Pap smear screening is still not widely available in developing countries and therefore cannot be used as mass screening tool. This study was designed to establish the role of Pap smear as a routine investigation for females presented to gynecological department. Methods: It was a hospital based study. Patients attending with complaints including irregular vagi-nal bleeding, vagina discharge, dyspareunia, low backache or lower abdominal pain and primary or secondary infertility were included in the study. All these patients underwent pap smear. Results: Age of females was 25 to 60 years. Ninety females had dysplasia. Mild to moderate dysplasia was positive in 84 females. Six patients had severe dysplasia suspicious for squa-mous cell carcinoma (SCC) which was confirmed as invasive SCC on biopsy. All patients with mild to moderate dysplasia were regularly followed at 4 to 6 months. Thirty patients were lost during follow up. Forty had negative smear at 6 months, while fourteen having persistent dysplasia on repeated pap smears were referred for biopsies. Histopathology confirmed invasive SCC in five patients while chronic cervicitis was reported in nine patients. Only two of screened patients with high suspicion for cancer showed false negative results. Directed biopsies done in these confirmed invasive SCC. Conclusion: Pap smear is a useful, simple, non-invasive and reliable screening tool for cervical cancer. It may be practiced as a routine investigation in outpatients in developing countries, where mass screening is not available.